Supreme Judicial Council on Monday dismissed a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) petition against Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) officials over their alleged negligence and inability to hold free and fair polls in 2013. This was decided in a session chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali.The reference was filed by the lawyer’s wing of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on August 26, seeking dismissal of ECP members in the light of report of Judicial Commission which was set up to probe the allegation of rigging. Petitioner Gohar Nawaz alleged that the ECP members didn’t perform their due duties ‘honestly’ during the General Election of May 2013.
He argued that the nominated members are responsible for election irregularities and therefore they should be unseated as per Article 209 of constitution. After initial scrutiny, the Supreme Judicial Council dismissed the reference over lack of proofs against the ECP members. The filing of the reference on baseless grounds puts a question mark on the wisdom of Imran Khan and his team. Once again the impulsive nature of the PTI chief has created an embarrassing situation for the party. The dismissal of the reference is a reminder to the PTI chief that he should review his politics and get rid of his insane policies. These illogical acts of the PTI leaders will lead the party nowhere. After one year of the elections 2013, Imran started an agitation against the government on the basis of unsubstantiated accusations that the elections were massively rigged. However, the charges of systematic rigging could not be proved. But the PTI chief did not stop his agitation movement and suffered a blow when the Judicial Commission proved his allegations false. Now, in the first phase of local government elections, people have given their verdict. The election results show that the PTI is losing its credibility and the graph of its popularity is gradually going down. In order to hide its failures, the PTI leadership keeps harping on rigging. They never review the ground realities. The local government election results clearly indicate the weaknesses of the PTI that include mismanagement, no roots among the masses and a credibility crisis. The PTI needs to address these issues instead of repeating the mantra of rigging. In fact the PTI has become a victim of its own hype. The PTI chief and his colleagues are busy committing foolish acts and are not trying to rectify their faults. The PTI leadership has become incapable of learning from its mistakes. It has become an uphill task to make Imran Khan understand that no systematic rigging at the behest of anyone took place in the previous elections. The mismanagement of the election staff and other election-related anomalies were reported but they do not prove any organised rigging plan. What Imran Khan should do is work for election reforms at the proper platform, i.e. parliament. He can play his role in bringing reforms but first he has to follow the existing norms and procedures. If Imran Khan will not review his politics, the future of the PTI seems bleak. Imran Khan should demonstrate maturity and act more responsibly now.
pk.shafaqna.com
